One of the less likely spin-offs to the "Lego" video game series is coming to major platforms this fall.

***

It was a rumor. Now it's official. But what exactly is it?

MTV and the owner of the "Lego" gaming franchise, Warner Bros. Interactive, announced today that "Lego Rock Band" is coming to the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS this holiday season. Given that "Rock Band" is a music game and the "Lego" games have been riffs off of popular fictions such as Star Wars and Batman, it's not immediately obvious how these two popular tastes go together.

A press release today from Warner Brothers offered some explanation for the upcoming game:

Players will become rockers as they embark on a journey to stardom that the whole family can enjoy as they work their way through local venues, stadiums and fantasy locations on Earth and beyond that mimic the imaginative settings that the LEGO world offers. Also continuing the LEGO "build-and-play" gaming experience, players will be able to create their own LEGO Rock Band style as they customize their minifigure avatars, band and entourage, including roadies, managers and crew. LEGO Rock Band supports Rock Band instruments, as well as other music game controllers.

The game is being developed by "Lego" makers TT Games, "Rock Band" creators Harmonix and  Backbone Entertainment, the same team working on the PSP-only "Rock Band Unplugged." (Notably, there is no "LEGO Rock Band" announced for the PSP.)

Announced songs for the game include:

Blur: "Song 2"
Carl Douglas: "Kung Fu Fighting"
Europe:"The Final Countdown"
Good Charlotte: "Boys and Girls"
Pink:"So What”

"Lego Rock Band" joins the previously announced June-scheduled "Rock Band Unplugged" and the September-slated "The Beatles: Rock Band."

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The creative director of upcoming MMO "LEGO Universe" talked about finding the "secret sauce" of TT Games' titles and how they're talking about working collaboratively in the future.

***

I met with "LEGO Universe" creative director Ryan Seabury and LEGO Group's director of business development Mark Hansen during GDC, and we talked about how development was going for the upcoming MMO since its delay was announced last month. The big challenge that developer NetDevil faces is combining the physical and the virtual and making the game fun to play -- without the licenses that TT Games has had.

"Why would I want to build in 'LEGO Universe'? The answer has to be more than 'It's fun to build LEGO' because that's just not enough when it comes to a video game," Seabury said. "Customizing yourself and putting your identity into that mini figure is the central point. It sort of contrasts with, say, the Traveler's Tales games, like 'LEGO Star Wars' and all of that. Those are strong narrative games. You're playing Luke Skywalker or Indiana Jones and it's fun, but it's not you."

"You're playing Luke Skywalker or Indiana Jones and it's fun, but it's not you."

So without the licenses, Seabury explained that NetDevil had to establish a sense of purpose so that players could get into the game and its social aspects. "We provide this pretty epic story and this conflict," he said, "a good-and-evil type thing where there's some dark chaotic forces that make different things across the universe come together, battle and save the day. Battle and build, with creativity at the core. Then you make your community bond, and the creative possibilities open up from there, which leads to you having much more of an investment to stay in that world and continue building."

I asked Seabury if NetDevil had learned a lot from the LEGO titles that TT Games has made. "They set some good groundwork in terms of crossing building and creativity," he said. "As developers, we look at it very technically and dissect it a lot, but the experience comes through very cleanly for them. So I think they found some secret sauce there. That's good for us to expand on and say, 'Hey, that's a good staple of LEGO in a video game. What could we do to take it to the next step?'"

Some specific things they've gleaned from TT Games' titles include the build mechanic -- the ability to walk up to LEGO bricks, hit a button and have the bricks come together to form something quickly. "Another big element I always talk about is how they brought the mini figs to life, moreso then what I've seen in past LEGO games," Seabury said. "When I started on the project I grabbed everything I could find. The first incarnation of LEGO games were from when LEGO as a company was like, 'Things can't be too different then the bricks. If the plastic is bending in weird ways someone will freak out.'"

"The mini figures became, what I thought, what a kid actually sees in their head."

Hansen assured me that LEGO has become more flexible over the years. "From a LEGO perspective, what NetDevil and TT have done is broken down some innovation walls on where to take things," he said. "Of course, we've been very protective of our [intellectual property] and our brand and our values, but they've helped us and shown us where to take things to."

"So [TT Games] broke that wall down," continued Seabury, "and the mini figures became, what I thought, what a kid actually sees in their head. When you're playing with a mini figure it's not actually coming alive and doing all kinds of action -- it's their imagination. So video games are the opportunity to make those creations come to life. What comes alive in your head can be displayed for other people to share."

"What's fun on the computer screen may not be what's fun on the floor, but it's about finding the spirit of what is LEGO play."

Seabury added that TT Games somehow made mini figures seem like epic heroes. "It may be due to the IP associations, because everyone wants to be a Jedi, but they made mini figures have capabilities that are really cool and powerful," he said. "They understood that it doesn't have to be about translating literally what the build experience is on the floor or on the table to what's on the screen because they have different strengths and weaknesses. What's fun on the computer screen may not be what's fun on the floor, but it's about finding the spirit of what is LEGO play. We want to build on that and make it comfortable for people who enjoy the TT Games titles, so it feels like a familiar area for them."

NetDevil has even had TT Games developers play-test the game. "We've met with them, and they've given us some really good feedback and insights that will ultimately save us lots of time," he said.

Seabury revealed it was possible for the two companies to collaborate on a LEGO project in the future. "They do those kinds of games extremely well, and we have a lot to learn from them," he said, "but on the other hand we have a lot of online MMO experience. We're looking at ways we can collaborate long-term, strategically."

"LEGO Universe" is slated for release in 2010.

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The project lead on "LEGO Universe" talked about the company's plans on developing the game for consoles. He also said that although the LEGO MMO won't be out this year, we can expect other LEGO titles in the interim.

***

Today, the LEGO Group announced their "strategic decision" to delay their LEGO MMO until after 2009 so as to not conflict with the release of other LEGO toy products. I also got a chance to speak with LEGO's Director of Business Development and "LEGO Universe" Project Lead Mark Hansen about console development and what other things the company has up its sleeve. Here's the rest of my interview from earlier today.

MTV Multiplayer: Are you concerned about too many LEGO games flooding the market, particularly with the successful TT Games offerings like "LEGO Star Wars," "LEGO Indiana Jones" and "LEGO Batman"?

LEGO's Mark Hansen: That's a very valid question, and it's definitely a portfolio management thing. It is about the spread, when to bring them out. But I think for 'Lego Universe,' [it's] not so much that, because I think it'll be around for 10-plus years. And we don't view it as, 'Okay, if a game comes out we can't launch another video game.' It's more about the physical product we have right now and how much market focus and how much other campaigns that we have thriving right now, and how much market conflict do we create with our main business. We think that 'Lego Universe' is a very strong offering and we want to have a window where we really push that product when we launch it.

MTV Multiplayer: As the director of business development, can you tell us what's going on with the other LEGO games?

Hansen: I'm not in the position to actually comment on that right now, but we do work very close with [developer of "LEGO Batman"] TT Games and ["LEGO Universe" developer] NetDevil about how we operate. It's very open, and we're pretty much in contact on a daily and weekly basis. As far as announcing games, I can't go further beyond that.

MTV Multiplayer: Are we going to see any more LEGO games in 2009?

Hansen: You will see more games in 2009.

Multiplayer: Have you decided on a business model yet for "LEGO Universe"?

Hansen: I think it'll be a regular subscription fee, but as of right now what will be free, or free content to play, hasn't been decided yet. I'm sure there will be different angles on how to play the game when that time comes.

MTV Multiplayer: I know many adults love Legos too, but do you think it's hard to make this game for both adults and children?

Hansen: I think this is what TT Games -- and what NetDevil is doing -- is very good at. They're finding that ability to bridge cross-generations into the gameplay. We see a lot of parents playing with their kids in "[LEGO] Star Wars" and "[LEGO] Indiana Jones" and different games that we have, so this is definitely something that has proven to be very successful for us. That's the gameplay we want to bring to "LEGO Universe." Cross-generation? Definitely, and there's a market out there for LEGO. The first kids who have grown up with Lego are coming to be adults. That's the big focus for us; finding the cross-generation LEGO gameplay in a virtual world. ...

We also have a very strong community around LEGO and LEGO gameplay. From the beginning, for us, we haven't pointed directly at kids but we do make it safe for kids. We see "Lego Universe" as a game for [all] ages.

MTV Multiplayer: Lately, there's been a big push for MMOs on consoles. Do you see "LEGO Universe" coming to consoles?

Hansen: I definitely see "LEGO Universe" coming to consoles. When? I know there's a few other [MMO] titles in the works coming onto consoles. We're still evaluating when it would be best to come out on console.

MTV Multiplayer: So you're saying it's only a matter of time before "LEGO Universe" comes out on console, but probably not at launch?

Hansen: Yes, I think that's a good response! [laughs] We've been working on the MMO for PC, and at the time we're not in console development for "LEGO Universe."

MTV Multiplayer: Do you think it's a major setback developing for consoles later? Because a lot of companies now are developing MMOs for consoles and PC simultaneously.

Hansen: We definitely think about that, and I think there are a lot of aspects to it. We could talk all day about the pluses and minuses. [laughs] The thing is, we have it on our radar, and we're looking at it. It's just when would be the right time for it to come onto a console.

***

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Although LEGO just announced that their upcoming MMO "LEGO Universe" won't be released until after 2009, they did give us a few new pieces of concept art as a consolation. We've also got an exclusive shot of the game's ninjas. That's right -- ninjas!

***

MTV-EXCLUSIVE NINJA ARTWORK:

Other artwork released today:

So there will indeed be robots, pirates and ninjas. Whose side are you on? (You've got at least a year to think about it.)

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The makers of the upcoming LEGO MMO "LEGO Universe" told MTV Multiplayer that the game will be delayed until after 2009 due to other new product lines launching this year.

***

Today, Lego announced that its upcoming Lego MMO "LEGO Universe," developed by NetDevil, will not be released this year as planned. In a phone interview conducted moments ago with the LEGO Group's director of business development and project lead Mark Hansen, he said the decision was not because of development but because of other products.

"We've made a strategic decision within Lego to delay the launch of 'LEGO Universe,'" Hansen said. "It's more strategic in relation to product launches that we have within Lego and not the game. [We have] new product lines that are coming out... We don't want to make a big splash [with 'LEGO Universe'] in the market where its success could take focus away from [the other products]. It's about finding the timing, and when it is correct that we should actually launch ['LEGO Universe'] to get the most effect out of it."

We'll have more of our interview with Hansen later today.

Read more about "Lego Batman" on the iPhone at Splashpage.MTV.com...

Dying in video games, like in real life, seems to be a natural part of the process. You play, therefore you die -- and you usually have to start over.

But does it have to be that way?

Not necessarily. I recently spoke to three developers who've all been making dying in games a little less painful. They explained to me why they're saying no to "game over" screens in their games and what they tell critics who claim they're making video games too easy.

So here's what the makers of "Mushroom Men," "LEGO Batman," and "Prince of Persia" had to say...

[Image: Michael Talbot]

"MUSHROOM MEN" -- How to make dying not so annoying

"Mushroom Men," a 3D platformer on the Wii developed by Red Fly Studio, depicts a civil war between tiny mushroom creatures in a human world. The main mushroom character, Pax, must solve puzzles and combat enemy 'shrooms with his hand-crafted weaponry. His life is indicated by the top of his cap, and each time Pax gets hit by an enemy, a portion of his cap disappears. Once his entire cap is gone, he's dead. But fear not, he actually respawns nearby, and the player's progression through the level is saved. That means if you were fighting a tough enemy and you needed only one more hit to finish it off, all you'd need is that one hit after you're resurrected.

"If you have to start over and do something that's you've already done 10 times... that's really annoying.

"This game is more about exploration than it is about being really tough," explained Matt Piersall, the game's audio director. He said that "Mushroom Men" is pretty open-ended and that players could choose different ways to progress through the levels and defeat enemies. "If you keep dying, take a different path," he said. "If it's something that's just so incredibly tough where you have to start over and do something that's you've already done 10 times -- that doesn't encourage players to continue playing... that's really annoying."

Chad Barron, the game's producer, added that if hardcore players really wanted a more challenging experience, they could replay the level or use a level one weapon in the 7th level. "I think [the way we treated dying] is one of the reasons why we decided to do the weapons system and the encounters the way we did," Barron said. "But if you try to make a game to appease everybody, you're going to be making a game for 20 years. You'll never please everybody."

THE "LEGO" GAMES -- Exploding is enough

For gamers who've ever played any of the "Lego" games by TT Games, players have four hearts and when they've gotten hit by enemies four times (or if they fall off a ledge), they die by exploding and losing some of the studs, the in-game currency, that they've collected throughout the level.

"There were a number of things that we set for the template of Lego games with 'Lego Star Wars,' and our approach to death was definitely one of those," lead designer Jonathan Smith said. "We particularly spoke about children [when developing the game], but we found increasingly that adults appreciate this kind of treatment as well. The adults play in just the same way when they are allowed to and remember how to play in a child-like way."

"With 'Lego Star Wars,' we set off very deliberately not to punish you."

He thought that because there wasn't too much of a penalty for dying, that players -- adults and children alike -- would be more encouraged to experiment within the game. "Very early-on the experience of many games is if you do not perform to the game's expectations, you are punished and forced to repeat the lesson," Smith explained. "There are some players who can respond well to that environment, but we felt that [that style of player death] was not encouraging of experimentation for most players. So with 'Lego Star Wars,' we set off very deliberately not to punish you... but actually to be friendly and to reward you in a positive way for the things that you chose to do."

Smith said that's why they minimized the consequences for dying. "We didn't make you replay any of the game's geography, and we didn't put you back so you had to do things over and over again," he said. "But we always felt that the signal that you character has fallen apart, the signal that you've died, was enough."

"PRINCE OF PERSIA" -- Game over screens are archaic

While "Mushroom Men" and the "Lego" titles wanted to encourage experimentation and exploration, the developers of the new "Prince of Persia" game just wanted to remove the "game over" screen and give players a new way to experience the Prince's acrobatic adventures. Namely, by adding a partner named Elika who will save him from dying while in combat or exploring the world -- all with the touch of button. Longtime fans of the series cried foul when they learned that there's no character death in the game.

"A lot of people mistake this to mean we're trying to make ["Prince of Persia"] a 'casual' game, and nothing could be further from the truth," said Ben Mattes, the game's producer at Ubisoft Montreal. "We set out to make an accessible game without removing challenge."

Mattes wanted to reiterate that when Elika brings the Prince back up after falling, she'll return him to the previous platform at the beginning of that acrobatic sequence. And if the player dies during combat, she'll knock the enemy off but that enemy will regain some health, thus penalizing the failure in combat.

"Game over screens are an archaic legacy of the coin-op days."

"Game over screens are an archaic legacy of the coin-op days when the gaming industry tried to milk as many quarters out of young boys as possible," he said, explaining that he blew his whole allowance trying to jump over the broken bridge in "Double Dragon" back in the day. "We chose to use the 'save-me' approach because it keeps players in the action, encourages the beginner player without penalizing the hardcore -- who will likely be so good at the same that they'll not need Elika's save-me ability. And it maintains the narrative of having a strong connection and mutual dependence between the Prince and Elika throughout the game."

"People giving up in frustration half way through is a bane of our industry and a trend that needs to be squashed."

All in all, Mattes thought this system made the game forgiving but not too easy. "There is a big difference for us between an easy game and one that prevents you from wanting to whip your controller across the room in frustration," he said. "That said, if the price we have to pay to attract more players to our brand -- and hopefully the action-adventure genre in general -- is that a small minority of the hardest of the hardcore are upset over some of our design decisions, that's a penalty we're willing to pay. We truly believe we've created a game that can entertain a wide demographic of players, regardless of their previous experience with 'PoP' or action-adventure games in general."

He added that he didn't think all games needed to have a system like this, but it wouldn't hurt the gaming industry if more of them did. "People giving up in frustration half way through is a bane of our industry and a trend that needs to be squashed," he said. "Anything that encourages someone to play through all the way to the end of your game is a good thing."

***

Readers, do the ways these games treat dying help or hurt games and gamers?

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While the last two Batman films have done well both critically and commercially, most of the previous games for the franchise haven't had as much luck, to put it nicely.

And even though this summer's "The Dark Knight" was one of the biggest movies in history, there hadn't even been a Batman game released this year until this week.

With "Lego Batman: The Videogame" is in stores this week, I spoke with the game's lead designer, Jonathan Smith, on Monday about his thoughts on transforming the iconic superhero into block form and how the caped crusader's sorry video game legacy and amazing movie did -- or didn't -- shape his team's game.

(And, no, Smith can't talk to us about why there's no "Dark Knight" game, rumored or otherwise. What "Dark Knight" game?)

"We knew exactly how we wanted [the game] to feel when being in control of Lego Batman and Lego Robin."

MTV Multiplayer: What lessons did you learn from the some of the not-so-good Batman games?

Smith:I don't think we learned any lessons from other Batman games. Honestly, I'm trying to think if we did, but we really looked at the opportunity to work on "Lego Batman" as just completely in its own terms. How can the world of Lego and Batman come to life in the fun way that we believed it could? We totally looked at the options on its own terms and built it accordingly. We actually hadn't looked at the other games in one way or the other. ...

The world of Lego and Gotham City just seemed so shining and clear to us right from the start. We knew exactly what we wanted to do in that world. We knew exactly how we wanted [the game] to feel when being in control of Lego Batman and Lego Robin. We knew what we wanted the villains to look like and how we wanted them to behave. And so the game grew out of our knowledge and experience and our fan interest in the DC universe, and the experiences we've had in the past making Lego games.

MTV Multiplayer: Had you played any of the other Batman games before?

Smith: Not recently to be honest. I played a couple of games a few years ago with some of my sons when we were still just Batman fans. But no, we certainly haven't brought anything into the office or put them side by side with what we've been doing. Is that surprising? Would you think we would? We don't have time. We're too busy working to play games! [laughs]

MTV Multiplayer: Why do an original story instead of basing the game it on the movies, like the other Lego titles you've done?

"There is not one best-ever Batman story."

Smith: We didn't want to be restricted to any one interpretation of Batman. Over the years, Batman's had lots of different interpretations. Lego Batman is based on the core of Batman, and in particular, the comics. So over the decades there have been so many different Batman stories, that it wouldn't have made sense for us to pick one in preference to the other. There is not one best-ever Batman story. There are lots and lots of really good ones. The villains are all, in our minds, almost equally important. Some of them have more prominence than others butwe know we want to make each of those characters shine and give them life in the game. So we wanted to go back to the essence and sort of distill a lot of the great work that people have done in lots of different comics over the decades and tie it in to "Lego Batman."

MTV Multiplayer: Was it ever considered at all to make the game based on any or all of the Batman movies?

Smith: No, not at all. The [Lego Batman toyline] the Lego company makes was already well established. They charted a course that we merely followed.

MTV Multiplayer: But do you think a Lego game based on any of the existing Batman movies would've worked?

"Love the characters, love the universe and have fun."

Smith: Um... I think they would've worked. I think Lego can turn into anything, to be honest. Yeah, like I said, I haven't considered it before, so I can't imagine what a Lego movie game would've been like, but it would've been quite different -- both visually, I think in terms of some other elements in it, to what we ended up doing. I feel we had the broadest possible canvas, which is what we always strive for looking from a Lego game point-of-view. We always want to try to get in as much as possible, really fill the game and really not feel that we can't turn our head to look in any direction. And with "Lego Batman," we were able to look anywhere and bring anyone we liked in or to go all over Gotham and that was brilliant.

[Note: I asked Smith if he had heard about the allegedly canceled "Dark Knight" movie game and if he thought that the lack of a Batman game tied to the movie was a missed opportunity. A publicist on the call interjected, saying that there was no Dark Knight game ever announced and that Smith could only speak for TT Games and not Warner Bros.]

MTV Multiplayer: What advice do you have for other Batman game makers?

Smith:Love the characters, love the universe and have fun. That's very simple. Those are definitely the three pieces we took, and we feel it worked out pretty well for us.

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One might argue the "Indiana Jones" series and the "Batman" franchise have their fair share of content targeted at someone other than kids (i.e. the pencil trick from this summer's "The Dark Knight"). But we understand what the TT Games people mean.

With that in mind, we can deduce what franchises might not ever get the "LEGO" treatment. Here's a few we came up with:

"Night of the Living Dead"
"Grand Theft Auto"
"The Terminator"
"Alien vs. Predator"
"The Matrix"

None of those are kid-targeted, per se, but they certainly appeal to kids. I should know. I was watching some of those when I was "too young" for them. We'll have to wait and see where, when and how TT Games ultimately draws the line on what "LEGO" games they do and don't make -- but we know they're not making "Halo."

What other potentially awesome "LEGO" games will we miss out on, readers?

[Image Credit: Andrew Bell]

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